Beware of Engineer

After 10 years of experience working with the 3-headed engineering development monster (hardware, software and peopleware), I have decided to post some of my ponderings to spur debate and spread good development practices through the means of online profilication - and hopefully cause a few chuckles along the way.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Working in the global economy, ironically enough, means working with individuals located in other parts of the world. The first thing that comes to mind will inevitably be the complications associated with the language barrier and accents, cultural differences, teleconferencing difficulties, and of course the dreaded time zone difference. But since we can't escape the inevitable, we might as well embrace it and focus on the positive aspects of having to attend conference calls with India or Asia instead of going out for dinner or relaxing in front of the television. So here are my top ten benefits for partaking in international conference calls.

Top Ten Benefits for Partaking in International Conference Calls

10. Happy Hours aren't really that much of a deal these days anyway

9. Makes you feel more cultured, even if you've never flown across an ocean

8. Patriotic feeling that everyone is forced to speak your language instead of the other way around

7. You can justify doing personal stuff at work when you do work calls from home

6. You may be able to score a company phone out of the deal

5. It sounds cool to start a conversation with "so I was on the phone with India when Ranjit said..."

4. Because you'll snap if you have to wait another day for a response to that endless email chain

3. Whether you are cracking a joke or yelling out of frustration, you know you are always going to get that calm, canned response "yes sir, we will look into it and get back to you" or something similar

2. It's a great excuse for getting out of doing the dishes

1. An opportunity to actually use Skype without your mom calling you cheap for forcing her to download an application on her computer to save you money

Sunday, November 21, 2010

You just spent an entire day sitting in front of a computer writing software code or project plans. What better way to spend the evening than with a bunch of other folks like the ones you just left behind to talk about what you do all day. Sound masochistic? Well, that's kind of the point of user group meetings. But then again, lots of folks work in an office all day and cuddle up on the couch at night to watch a show about people working in an office, so maybe user group meetings are one step up from that.

Seriously though, I've been to a few different computer language user group meetings, and I actually run one myself for Atlassian software products (The Jira and Confluence guys). I find them to be extremely beneficial for a number of reasons. As far as knowledge goes, you could learn more in terms of quantity for the same amount of time from reading books or articles. But there is something to be said for diversity in learning. Spreading your wings further than the confines of the office opens up the possibilities of what you can learn, and 1-on-1 interaction leads to more opportunities for Q & A for help applying what someone else has learned to your own situation.

But user groups go far beyond just the learning. Networking, job opportunities, discovering a new venue and of course complimentary food and beverages are some of the other benefits of user group meetings. So let's take a look at my top ten reasons for going to a software user group meeting.

Top 10 Reasons for Going to Software User Group Meetings

10. Find folks who may be willing to read your obscure blog on software development. Yes, that was meant to be ironic.